What is a Liberal Arts Degree?

A liberal arts degree strengthens communication, organization and critical-thinking skills. These degrees help graduates find entry-level employment in sectors like retail, business and administration. Liberal arts degrees come with curricula that explores a wide range of subject areas to broaden students’ understanding of the world. Students learn how to identify facts, analyze issues, formulate conclusions and discuss findings during this academic process.

The Meaning of the Liberal Arts

The liberal arts provide an education that provides an overview of the arts, math, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Liberal arts programs are rooted in the classics, so they focus on the skills needed for people to meaningfully contribute to society and academia. These degrees strive to create programs that produce life-long, self-motivated learning. Some of the most common liberal arts majors include English, history, language, math, psychology, sociology, philosophy, political science, anthropology and communication.

The mission of liberal arts programs is to ensure that all courses, disciplines and departments offer cross functional and interdisciplinary viewpoints. A liberal arts education gives students opportunities to intellectually explore a variety of academic topics instead of following a rigid rubric within a single field. Employers want job candidates who have a broad knowledge base, critical thinking skills and an appreciation of alternative viewpoints.

Standard Subjects

All liberal arts programs will include college-level communication courses that teach everything from reading comprehension to writing skills to rhetorical compositions. Students prepare exposition, description and argumentation essays and reports. Out-of-class assignments may require responses to readings or critiques of research. Students are introduced to library research, documentation procedures and process-writing techniques. Classes in mathematics consider the fascinating history, intellectual beauty and real world applications of advanced calculations.

These classes promote out-of-the-box thinking to discover new ways to understand the world and solve problems. Topics may cover fractals, infinity, topology, geometry, networking and game theory. These degree programs usually include general classes on computers, so students understand the science and application of information technology, as well as social and behavioral sciences course, such as cognitive psychology and applied sociology. Liberal arts majors always include classes in science, business, history, literature and philosophy.

Career Prospects

Some people feel that liberal arts graduates cannot easily find gainful employment, but these degrees cover a broad spectrum of subjects, so there’s no one set career path. Graduates go on to a wide range of professional careers in law, business, administration, publishing, nonprofits and public service. Graduates shouldn’t worry about competing against job hunters with traditional, narrowly defined degrees like management, communications and engineering. This is because a liberal arts degree can be flexibly applied to a variety of professions.

Liberal arts programs require students to carefully think and write about a broad range of topics from different perspectives. This means that they will come to unique and alternative realizations and generalizations about questions and problems. Liberal arts disciplines better prepare graduates for industry, technology and organizational changes. Liberal arts graduates can obtain positions in diverse settings not connected to their majors.

Liberal arts graduates may take slightly more time in securing their first job, but they will advance faster and enjoy lower turnover rates. Due to the fact that most people frequently change professions in their lifetime, its best to choose a flexible and adaptable degree.